PHEV smells like burned rubber ?

[HSDish]

Had our RAV 4 PHEV on the big 90 000 km ( about 55.923.4073 miles I think ) service at my local Toyota garage, yesterday.

But ... when I drove the car today and the EV mode changed to HV mode (when the ICE kicked in ) it began to smell like burned rubber.

Can´t ask Toyota cause its weekend.

Anyone here who have any thoughts of what it could be ?

[Gray86]

Probably bit of oil spilt down side of engine which was burned off when car engine got warm? 

[HSDish]

1 hour ago, Gray86 said:

Probably bit of oil spilt down side of engine which was burned off when car engine got warm? 

Let`s hope so.

Then this smell probalbly won`t occure tomorrow

[philip42h]

My 4.4. D-CAT diesel used to smell of burning rubber when it was stopped before the DPF regen was complete. I've no idea what an interrupted GPF regen might smell like ... Just a thought ...

[Iain_M]

Have a good look in the engine bay and see if there is some spilt oil or a paper towel jammed up against something hot maybe.

[spicyhotone]

I've experienced this burning smell when the engine has worked harder than normal (extended high revs) - eg. after a steep long climb over a mountain pass, or when using the self-charging facility, and the engine revs higher than it normally would in order to generate the increased power output required. Given most of my engine driving is fairly sedate motorway cruising, I suspect it's just burning off collected oil/soot in the system when it does occasionally work harder. I asked the garage to take a look, and they couldn't find a problem.
I'm not sure if the PHEV has a particulate filter, not found a definitive answer to this, but that could be another explanation - when they go into regen mode, high heat exhaust is produced in order to burn off the crap, which can cause a burning smell.

[HSDish]

Thanks to all contributors !

Yesterday I had a look in the engine bay and could not se anything strange or unusual.

Felt no burning smell when ICE kicked in, in HV mode either 🙂

Talked to my local Toyota garage mecanican( the one who did the service) today and he tought it could be caused by some oil spilt on the exhaust system

[ernieb]

I've had oil on the exhaust pipes after a service which caused a strange smell, when I looked you could see the slight difference in colour to the rest of the exhaust.

 

[Hannah Dreyfus]

July 25, 2024, British Columbia, Canada, purchased a Rav4 Prime SE AWD 2024. It now has 300 km on the  odometer gauge (August 11, 2024). Whenever I engage the EV/HV charging mode (press to show read out on display screen EV/HV Charge Mode) to test it out, I get a distinct smell of burning rubber from the driver's side engine area and undercarriage of the vehicle upon opening the door to get out of the vehicle. So far there is no 'Failure' warning. Am taking it in to have it checked out. In the meantime, has anybody else had the same issue?

[Paul john]

32 minutes ago, Hannah Dreyfus said:

July 25, 2024, British Columbia, Canada, purchased a Rav4 Prime SE AWD 2024. It now has 300 km on the  odometer gauge (August 11, 2024). Whenever I engage the EV/HV charging mode (press to show read out on display screen EV/HV Charge Mode) to test it out, I get a distinct smell of burning rubber from the driver's side engine area and undercarriage of the vehicle upon opening the door to get out of the vehicle. So far there is no 'Failure' warning. Am taking it in to have it checked out. In the meantime, has anybody else had the same issue?

Take it into the dealer where you purchased it under warranty. 

[TonyHSD]

If the op car was smelling of burned rubber straight after service then we can accept is from an oil spill although burned oil has different smell from burning rubber but in the Hannah’s case the smell comes randomly or any time after the car switches from ev to hv drive then I don’t think it’s from oil spill. It is something else. Burning smells aren’t very good, you know what I mean. 

[Paul john]

27 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

If the op car was smelling of burned rubber straight after service then we can accept is from an oil spill although burned oil has different smell from burning rubber but in the Hannah’s case the smell comes randomly or any time after the car switches from ev to hv drive then I don’t think it’s from oil spill. It is something else. Burning smells aren’t very good, you know what I mean. 

I too have driven a TR7. 😂

[Cyker]

Might be worth checking there's not a rubber glove or plastic bag or some such stuck somewhere hot. I have had both of these things happen to me!